Thread: BLOCK HOUSES WITH BIG LOTS OF CRACKS

Hello all. I am looking at a couple of "fixer upper" houses that I can get for cheap. They both pretty much exhibit the same issues of having some substantial cracks in the cinder blocks and the entire roofs look like they need to be replaced. Both houses are from the late 40's early 50's and are in Orlando FL. I was just hoping someone could give me their opinion on the cracks. I'm thinking that the houses are so old that the cracks are probably old as well and won't get worse? Am I wrong? What are the implicants of cracks like this? Is it common to have cracks like these in Florida?

On house #1 there are two cracks that concern me a lot. There is one in the slab foundation on the front porch. The crack is very long as you can see in the picture. It goes all the way to where I laid my wallet. The concrete on either side of the crack is obviously slanted down from the crack, basically forming a tiny hill. The other crack is one that goes from the ground all the way to the roof. This crack is situated about 8 feet away from the front porch crack and is in the same spot on both the front and back of the house. The crack is 1/16" to 1/8" at the widest point. It does appear to be a bit wider at the top than at the bottom.

On house #2 there are some cracks here and there throughout the walls, but nothing I see as very serious, except in one corner. There is a backporch area attached to the rest of the house. Please see the pics. The crack goes from ground to roof and gets quite big at the top, probably 1/4".

Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

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